'John Muir' Actor on Mariposa Board

Lee Stetson environmentally minded, too.

by Charles McCarthy
Fresno Bee - January 6, 2003

"John Muir" will take his seat Tuesday on the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor-elect Lee Stetson, 62, of Midpines, won his new job representing the county's District 1 last March. The former television actor has been recognized nationwide for his live stage portrayals of legendary Yosemite naturalist Muir since 1983.

Like conservation advocate Muir, the Mariposa County supervisor-elect says he's environment-minded: "No denying it ... I plan to be highly interested in environmental matters, to be sure."

Stetson has portrayed Muir thousands of times, but it's the actor's first foray into public office. The closest he came before was portraying Muir for a re-enactment of a 1903 meeting between the naturalist and President Theodore Roosevelt.

A century ago, the president visited Yosemite and camped for a few days with Muir. Roosevelt returned to Washington convinced that Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees should be taken from state control and included in the national park.

Muir died in 1914 after writing 10 books and keeping journals on his travels in the wilderness, including the Sierra Nevada forests.

Stetson's interest in Muir began when a friend gave him a book on Muir's life.

Stetson and his wife, Connie, share Muir's concern for nature and the wilderness. Their home is a 30-minute drive from Yosemite.

The supervisor-elect is keenly aware that the residents who elected him don't all share Muir's environmental views. Stetson plans to deal with each county issue individually.

Highway 140 access to Yosemite Valley makes tourism a key to the foothill and mountain county's economy. That's one of Stetson's concerns, too.

"People really do want to make sure that Mariposa County remains environmentally and economically sustainable. ... My district tends to be the economic engine that makes Mariposa work so well," Stetson said. "Everyone in this county is supportive of tourism."

Nearly half of Mariposa County -- 452,384 acres -- is under public land ownership. This includes parts of Yosemite and the Sierra and Stanislaus national forests.

Stetson moved in 1982 to Mariposa County from Southern California. He supports a controversial plan to force San Francisco to abandon its Hetch Hetchy water reservoir and dam inside Yosemite National Park.

Hetch Hetchy isn't in Mariposa County, but whatever happens in Yosemite's future is very likely to have an impact on Mariposa.

Mariposa County winery owner Marvin Silver, who has known Stetson for about 10 years, isn't in District 1 but says he would have voted for Stetson.

"He ran a very clean campaign," Silver said. "He did a lot of homework before he ran."